Thread by @GbengaWemimo

When the second term resumed after the Christmas break of 1996, I went back to the boarding school practically walking on the cloud
My father came home from his base in Germany over the Christmas period and brought us a lot of goodies
One of the goodies was a pair of loafers with

Which I rocked the town throughout the Christmas season
I was of two minds as to whether I should take it to school but the problem with leaving things at home is this, you preserve them from getting spoilt or stolen only to discover that you have outgrown them!
When I got to

School the shoe got a lot of attention.
Loafers, bikers, Sanchez and Chelsea boots were the must have shoes of those days
Any clean jeans and T-shirt will do but your shoes determine how far you will go in the appraisal of your friends socially!
I placed this shoe on my bunk as I

Began to arrange my locker
Our housemaster’s oldest son walked into the room to greet me, he had just gained admission into the university of Ilorin at the time
A few minutes after he left, I stood up to put my loafers in the locker and discovered it had disappeared.
What!
It was

the first day of resumption
I was the only senior to have arrived
My younger brother and some other junior students had arrived too but none of them was old enough to wear the shoe or had the guts to come into a senior’s room to steal the shoe. None of them came into the room. I

knew who the thief was
I went to the housemaster’s house and asked for this guy
He was not in
I didn’t want to accuse him in his absence so I waited
When I went back later in the evening, his mother said he had left for school
I nodded my head and smiled
Those days I was not the

type that will take that lying low
I cannot describe how painful it felt to have been robbed in broad daylight & to also be unable to accuse the thief and get justice
Any other student will pick his wound and forget about it but I was not wired that way
I felt he had made a fool

of me
When my roommates arrived, I told them what had happened
None of them believed me
I had a reputation for dishonesty and being light fingered
They would believe it if I told them I stole the loafers than believe me that my loafers were stolen
It seems a thief had no right to

justice
As long as he has a long rap sheet of misdeeds, whatever calamity befell him would be well deserved
I summoned courage to speak with the House master on the theft, he got angry that I accused his son of stealing my loafers
He told me I didn’t bring any loafers to school

And if I did, I had gone to sell it while accusing his son of the theft just so I can give my parents a good excuse when they ask me to give an account for the loafers
It is pretty difficult not to be believed when you are robbed or raped or cheated because you deserved it
One of

My friends even said “You have done all sorts to others, you need to feel how they felt when you stole their things”
I get it
I was no saint
I deserved to be robbed
It was karma
I didn’t even deserve a “sorry
I waited for the term to end, we went on holidays and I resumed for the

Third term on the first day of resumption as usual
Luckily, the thief was around
This time, I had bought a pair of Sanchez boots from a friend and I made sure I polished it very well
I placed it on my bed as usual, I pretended I was not paying attention
He came into the room just

Like he did the first time
I waited
He greeted me and did some small talk
I answered half heartedly
He left
I waited for ten minutes until he walked into his father’s apartment
As expected, the Sanchez boot was gone
I sneaked out of my room, walked around the hostel to the house

Master’s house and pulled the housemaster’s bedroom window from the outside
I had set the trap as soon as I got to school
The hole the window latch was supposed to slot into had been blocked with candle wax
The window gave way
I climbed into the House Master’s room through the

Window and saw the son putting my Sanchez boot and the stolen loafers of the previous term into his travel bag
He also had his provisions, clothes, some money and other things in the same bag
He zipped the bag and walked out through the back door
As soon as he was gone, I took

His travel bag and exited the same way I got in
I put the bag under my bunk and locked the room
Two hours later, the house master arrived home to take his son to the motor park where he would take a bus to Ilorin
The poor boy couldn’t find his travel bag
They searched for it

Everywhere
Nobody could even imagine it was in the male hostel
He couldn’t go to school that day
My roommates started arriving
I didn’t tell anybody what had happened in their absence
Monday came, I dressed for school wearing my Sanchez boot
When I walked into the dinning for

Breakfast the house master’s son saw me
I had my breakfast and went off to class
The next day, I wore my loafers to the dinning for breakfast
He saw me again
It convinced him beyond any reasonable doubt that I had his travel bag but there was nothing he could do about it
If he

told anyone he would have to admit that he stole my things too
Meanwhile, his father was giving him hell everyday over the missing bag
He came to see me in the school area on the third day
He came with three friends
He said I should return his bag or they will beat me up
I said

Okay
Later that evening during the evening devotion, I walked up to housemaster and told him everything
I told him his son was a thief and had now resorted to intimidation to cover his crime
I told him I have my own gang
We will burn his hostel down if he does not address the

Issue
I presented my evidence
In the son’s travel bag, I found the clothes of other students of the boarding house
The house master’s holy boy was not so holy!
The house master said He would arrest me for coming into their house to steal the son’s bag
I told him to go ahead!

Eventually, he capitulated
He told me to bring the bag to the dinning and his son apologized to all the students!
Those whose properties had been stolen got their properties back
It was a walk of shame but it was a walk that was necessary!
His son returned to school that same

Week!
Hypocrisy is a norm in human society and we are all guilty of it
Did you notice how the news of a Covid-19 vaccine was released in the USA soon after the “election” but not before?
People were dying but it didn’t matter, announcing it before will make it seem like Trump got

a win and nobody wanted to give a gorilla the pleasure reserved for human beings!
So they cried COVID-19 towards the election and announced a vaccine after their preferred candidate won!
It didn’t matter that people were dying all over
When we dislike people, we all have the

Tendency to “not see” when they are wronged or to judge whatever calamity they are facing as deserved
The gospel does not wear tainted lens
It made equals of all men in Christ Jesus.
Believers have no right to hate or judge anyone in Christ
Such is eternally as good as we all are